1899-O VAM-3

Description

Discovered by George Mallis in June 1965 — one of the two pioneers whose initials form the "M" in the VAM designation system alongside Leroy Van Allen — the 1899-O VAM-3 "Open 9's, O Tilted Right" Morgan dollar identifies two distinct diagnostics on a single die marriage. The catalog entry 3 III2 1 · C3b (Open 9's, O Tilted Right) describes an obverse with open-looped 9's in the date and a reverse where the O mintmark tilts noticeably to the right of vertical. George T. Morgan's silver dollar design, featuring Liberty crowned with wheat and cotton on the obverse and a heraldic eagle on the reverse, provided the template for what would become the most extensively cataloged die variety system in American numismatics. New Orleans struck approximately 12.29 million Morgan dollars in 1899, a substantial production run that generated numerous die pairs and a correspondingly deep VAM catalog for the date. The open 9 diagnostic refers to the style of numeral punch used to engrave the date into the working die — an open 9 has a clearly visible gap in the loop rather than a fully closed circular top, and when both 9's in 1899 display this characteristic, it identifies a specific date punch or punching technique. The tilted O mintmark on the reverse provides an independent confirmation point, as mintmark position and angle varied from die to die based on the hand-punching process used to add the mintmark to each working die individually. DPIS (Die Pair Identification System) entries remain unlisted for this variety, and emission sequence data for both obverse and reverse dies awaits further documentation.

External References